Zhu Yi looked at Zhou Fan in excitement. "So, what's next, master?" He asked.
Zhou Fan assessed the situation. "With your cultivation speed, cultivating without spirit stones is more or less a death wish, in terms of lifespan at least. What you need to do is find another source."
The current spirit stone mine was extremely small. In fact, it could not even be called a mine, only a small vein.
Zhu Yi kept looking at him. "How should I do that? Can you find spirit stone mines at this time?"
Zhou Fan shook his head. "Not without recovering more. I suggest you try to join that sect that you mentioned."
"The heart scalp sect?" Zhu Yi asked.
"Yes, that one. Perhaps they can help you access spirit stones."
Zhou Fan did not know how the sects in this world worked, but they should not be too much different from the sects he knew, just on a much smaller scale.
He had also seen small sects such as the blue flower sect that Lu Wei had joined.
Zhu Yi nodded and walked out of the cave. He had grown in the past year and was now 13 years old. Due to being a cultivator, he seemed older and looked stronger than others his age.
After returning home, he spoke to his parents about leaving to join the heart scalp sect.
"Are you sure?" His mother asked worriedly.
"I am. If I don't go, my future will be limited." Zhu Yi said.
Zhu Yi's father nodded. "As long as you make us proud."
The next day, Zhu Yi set off. His parents had asked him a lot of questions before letting him leave, but he had finally escaped.
He walked in the direction of the heart scalp sect. Using a map he had bought before, he knew how to get there, though the journey was indeed a long one.
Before setting off, he had thought about using some sort of cart, or at least a horse, but he soon realized that his running speed was much greater than a horse's, and his stamina was high as well.
Zhu Yi got into a sprinting position and ran. As he ran, he looked at his shoulder to see if Zhou Fan was holding on, but Zhou Fan was still sitting as normal.
This gave Zhu Yi confidence. He ran as fast as he could. Every hour or so, he would sit down for a few minutes and cultivate. This was both to increase his cultivation and regain his stamina.
After two days of this repeated process, Zhu Yi finally felt the urge to go to sleep. He moved to the side of the path and, with skills acquired since young, created a campfire.
As he laid down next to it, he spoke to Zhou Fan.
"Master, will you ever teach me techniques?" Zhu Yi asked.
"Naturally, but only once you're stronger. You have a fire affinity, so I can teach a few technique's. Before then, you must think about what type of techniques you want."
Zhu Yi was confused. "Master, I don't fully understand what you're saying."
Zhou Fan had almost forgotten that Zhu Yi had never met another cultivator and had no knowledge of cultivation outside of what Zhou Fan had told him.
"Well, you can practice weapons and learn weapons Qi, you can focus on movement techniques, you can focus on a certain attack technique like fire arrows and practice it to absolute mastery, you can explore a wide range of techniques, essentially any path you want to take can be taken. As for me, just treat me as a technique library." Zhou Fan explained.
Although he was injured, creating techniques for anyone below the lesser dao creation realm took nothing but a thought. After all, he still had his memories even if his mind was slower.
Zhu Yi nodded and fell into deep thought. Falling into deep thought caused him to quickly fall asleep.
Zhou Fan sat next to Zhu Yi. He did not need to sleep, and he could do nothing but sit and wait.
A few hours after Zhu Yi fell asleep, he was awoken by cracking sounds.
He quickly sat up and looked around. Surrounding him were 3 men and a woman with half face masks on. They were wielding weapons and in an attacking stance.
"Morning punk. Give us all of your money." One of the men said.
Zhu Yi had just woken up and was a little confused, but answered the man. "I don't have any money."
"Huh? Then what are you doing out here? There's no civilization nearby. Stop lying and give us the money." The man said with anger.
Zhu Yi finally cleared his mind and looked around. "You guys wouldn't happen to eb cultivators, right?"
"Stop playing around. Have you seen cultivators going around robbing people?" The man said.
Zhu Yi just laughed internally. "I'm a cultivator."
The four people paused before laughing. "Yeah, and I'm a dragon." One said.
"Why else do you think somebody so young is in the middle of nowhere without money or a cart, or even a horse?" Zhu Yi asked.
The four robbers paused before looking at each other.
They nodded and turned around. No point in risking it since his words made sense.
"Did I say you could leave?"
Hearing this, the four bandits stopped. If they were unsure before, they were now pretty confident that Zhu Yi was a cultivator.
Why else would he stop them?
"Young sir, we had no intention of hurting you. We're just desperate for money. Why don't you let us leave?" The woman said.
"Take off your mask." Zhu Yi said.
The woman was confused, but did as he said.
"Wow. Prett– Oww!" Zhu Yi said as he held his head.
The four robbers looked at each other but did not move. Is this kid crazy?
Zhu Yi looked to the side where Zhou Fan had smacked him.
"Lust has no place in a cultivator's heart." Zhou Fan lectured.
"Sorry master. But the women in the village are so ugly. I was just curious." Zhu Yi said, feeling indignant.
"Whatever. Be a good cultivator and rob these people before sending them on their way." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi paused, wondering if he had heard correctly, before nodding.
What a great idea. As expected of master, he is smart.